▲ The presidential office in Seoul (Yonhap)

presidential office-politics

Presidential office denies Yoon's involvement in 2022 by-election nomination

SEOUL, Oct. 31 (Yonhap) -- The presidential office denied Thursday that President Yoon Suk Yeol was involved in the nomination of a candidate for the parliamentary by-elections in 2022, when he was president-elect.

The denial came hours after the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) played a recording of what it said was a phone call in which Yoon told Myung Tae-kyun, a self-proclaimed political broker, that he had recommended the ruling party nominate now former lawmaker Kim Young-sun to run in the by-election in the Changwon and Uichang district of South Gyeongsang Province.

The recording marks the latest revelation in a growing scandal centering on allegations that Yoon and first lady Kim Keon Hee conferred with Myung to interfere with the ruling party's candidate nominations ahead of multiple elections.

"Then President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol never received a report on candidate nominations from the nomination management committee nor did he give instructions for a nomination," the presidential office said in a notice to the press.

"The phone conversation between then President-elect Yoon and Myung Tae-kyun did not discuss anything important enough to be particularly memorable, and (Yoon) simply spoke favorably of Kim Young-sun because Myung kept talking about her nomination," the office said.

The DP claimed the phone call took place on May 9, 2022, a day before Kim Young-sun won the ruling People Power Party's nomination and Yoon was inaugurated as president.

In the recording, Yoon can be heard saying, "The nomination committee brought it to me, so I said since Kim Young-sun campaigned hard during the primaries, give it to her, but the party's being difficult."

Myung is heard thanking him, saying, "I will never forget this favor."

(END)

[ⓒ K-VIBE. 무단전재-재배포 금지]